Note: Governor General Michaëlle Jean briefly visited the Republic of Slovenia on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008, prior to returning to Canada on the same day. She met with Dr. Danilo Türk, President of the Republic of Slovenia at Brdo Castle.

PRAGUE–The eye of Canada's political hurricane passed through the Czech capital yesterday, as Governor General Michaëlle Jean broke her silence with the fate of the government in her hands.

Speaking to the Toronto Star in a curbside interview as a crowded Prague theatre awaited her arrival, Jean moved to reassure Canadians, vowing to cut short a four-country European tour and return to Ottawa today to weigh who is to govern Canada.

"It is time for me to go home," Jean told the Star. "I think my presence is required. And I think I need time also for sound judgment."

The Governor General revealed only the barest glimpse of her thought process. She moved to calm Canadian anxieties.

"I've been informed every day on the political situation at home," she said. "I think what is happening right now is part of the possibilities in our democratic system and I think that people can be reassured that, as I turn to what is happening, I am myself looking at my constitutional duties. People can be confident."

Confronted with one of the most daunting constitutional conundrums ever to befall the all-but-ceremonial office of governor general, Jean was nevertheless the portrait of calm in Prague.

She laughed when the Star remarked upon her sanguine demeanour. "I have to be! I have to be calm," she said as an aide pulled her toward a waiting reception hall.

Inside La Fabrika Theatre, Jean reverted to the role of energized Canadian dignitary, dancing in her seat as the Czech pop group Gypsy.cz played a raucous three-song set to launch a two-hour youth dialogue event bringing together young Czechs and young Canadians.

Only a small handful of the more than 100 Czech students in the room were aware that a critical Canadian question loomed.

In her opening remarks, Jean made only passing reference to homegrown politics, noting the last in her series of international youth meetings happened to coincide "with the 250th anniversary of the birth of parliamentary democracy in Canada."

But on the margins of the event, aides could be seen huddled with the Governor General, at one point presenting her with a printout of a day-old clipping from the Montreal daily La Presse, bearing the headline "Harper n'a pas dit son dernier mot" (Harper has not said his last word).

The four-country tour of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic will no longer include a final stop in Slovenia, as Jean and a delegation that includes her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond return today on a Canadian Forces aircraft.

"The decision to make this journey came at the request of the Prime Minister," an aide to Jean told the Star. "The decision to cut short the trip and return home is the Governor General's decision."

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